The Australian PC market experienced a -2.5% dip in unit shipments year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2018, according to the latest IDC research.
Its a swift-180 after experiencing a strong second and third quarter in 2018, with a YoY growth of 8.9% and 9.6% respectively.
The Australian PC market in 2018 saw commercial products grow 9.2% while consumers’ shrivelled by -3.0%.
“Competition from mobile devices, the slow pace of innovation and improvement in mainstream PC devices, and a disappointing gaming graphics hardware refresh cycle are all contributing to the extended life span of the consumer PC device”, says Sean Ashari, Market Analyst at IDC Australia.
“For much of the year, the opposite trend was seen in commercial PC Device shipments that were encouraged by SMB Tax rebates, the looming Windows 7 End of Support deadline, and the growing adoption of the PC-as-a-service model.”
IDC points to Intel’s CPU shortage coupled with the general lack of stability in business — as a result of US-China Trade War and a decline in domestic spending — as the reason the yearlong commercial growth was stifled.
The research group expects the Australian PC market to continue to decline in 2019 at -3.0% YoY.
“Australia is expected to experience the continued decline in consumer PC shipments as a result of falling house prices, shrinking household savings, and uncertainty around interest rates”, says Ashari.
“In 2019, Government and exporting businesses are expected to increase spending on PC devices, while locally trading businesses face a slow decline in business confidence”.
